01.01.2011!!!

Right after Christmas, Jen, Justine, Len, John and I all hurried and helped to get the house clean and to have everything organized for Lisa and April to arrive. Len was borrowing a van from a friend so that we could all fit in one vehicle, Justine organized an air mattress and linens for John and I to sleep on, John helped clear out the computer room so that there was room for the air mattress, and Jen and I cleaned up the rooms and washed all the sheets. The weather has been iffy; some days its sunny and hot, others its overcast and rainy. Some days its over cast and rainy but then turns to sunshine and rainbows. I never thought this was possible, but the weather in Melbourne is far less predictable than even in Cleveland! I mean, you will wake up to gray skies and pouring rain, get ready and go outside and its sunshine and almost too hot to bear, and by 5 o'clock it feels like its going to snow! At least in Ohio it really snows, Melbourne doesn't have an excuse!
The girls were meant to arrive the 30th, but a big snow storm hit New York pretty hard and caused a huge domino effect of delays. They were stuck in Ohio for a few hours, before being told that they were going to miss their other connections. They were keeping all of us in Australia updated through Facebook, and we had all assumed that they may just cancel. The news was saying that people had been delayed up to three days, and we didn't think the girls would be any different. They did eventually make it to Chicago where they had to spend the night for their flight to LA early the next morning. At least they were being successful re-routed and made it into Australia by noon on New Years day.
John had woken up that morning all bright eyed and bushy tailed. He wouldn't have admitted it, but I knew he was excited to see his sisters. He and Len went to pick them up and Jen and I stayed back to help put together lunch. Before you knew it, they were at the front door, eager to begin their 2 weeks stay in Australia. It was so nice to have family from home, but what was even better was to see how excited the family in Australia was to have them. Jen exclaimed, several times, how wonderful it was to have all us of together and how excited she was for the next two weeks.
Lisa's luggage had been put on a different plane and wouldn't arrive until sometime the next day. I lent her some clothes and we all got showered and ready for our New Years celebration. (John, Jen and I all wanted to prank the girls with a vegemite sandwich, but I made them and apparently didn't do it right. Lisa and April both ate the entire thing without wanting to gag, so it looks like the joke was on us!) Jen was at her mom's (Zia's) for that night, so instead of going out, we decided that we would all go be with Jen and Zia to ring in the New Year.
Zia was beyond excited to see the girls, and them and John together meant the world to her. Lisa knew enough Italian to at least be able to communicate a little and they went on explaining how they were related. Sometimes Zia forgets. I showed her a picture that she had on her TV stand of the Trzop family (they were much younger) so she would recognize Gus and Mary, who had visited Australia and their family for their honeymoon. She just went on in her cute little Italian way, hugging and kissing everyone, full of smiles and laughter. She showed the girls the pictures she had on her wall of their Grandpa, and of all her 10 kids (although she did have a hard time remembering everyone's name). A little bit later, Mary dropped by. She was the first of the 10 cousins that they had gotten to meet besides Jen.
Justine and I started to make everyone drinks when the phone rang. It was Uncle G back in Ohio! He talked to Jen and Mary and even Zia. The best part was that we got her on video tape while she was talking to him. I swear, if Zia's smile got any bigger it may have just flown off her face. They wished each other 'Buon Anno' and we all gathered in the kitchen with photo albums in hand. Zia went on to show the girls each and every picture (John and I did the same exact thing when we first met her), before then speaking to the family in Coreno, Italy as well. Lisa even talked on the phone for a minute, though she admits she didn't understand what they said.
After the albums we had moved into the garage. It was a gorgeous night, but way too hot for all of us to be in a stuffy room. We got out all the drinks and put out the game 'Partini' for everyone to play. A few minutes before the turn of midnight, Zia, Mary and Jen came into the garage as well, filled our glasses with Champagne and we all cheered and danced our way into 2011!
They say that how you spend your New Years is how you will spend the rest of the year. Last year, John and I had spent New Years at the Coronese Italian dinner dance, with Mary, Lisa, April, Uncle G and all the Coreno families. This past year, John and I have been blessed to meet and stay with the extended family in Australia and it's so great that April and Lisa got to too. This New Years, we are all together again, celebrating the with the people that we love the most. So if the saying holds true, like it did for us last year, then I am so excited to see what 2011 has in store! HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!